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So, modding Skyrim then...

Hello,

Due to the recent sale I've just picked up Skyrim after enjoying the PS3 version immensely. I want to install mods, that seems to be a great benefit of the PC version, but reading about it is confusing me. It seems that for some mods I will need to use the Nexus Mod Manager and a thing called BOSS but I don't want to run my game from outside of Steam as I like having everything in one place. I know the steam workshop exists but it seems that some of the more complicated mods aren't available and I don't want to start modding only to limit myself later on.

You can just use the Steam Workshop and, as long as you use some common sense (don't get two mods that both change bandit loot, etc) won't have any issues.

Nexus Mod Manager is an external utility used to manage mods and what not, and is kind of a must as for various reasons, many modders only use the Skyrim Nexus for mods. There are a few reasons for this (some good, some stupid, some petty), but that is just the case. And there are advantages to using the Skyrim Nexus instead of the Steam Workshop as you can be certain the mods won't be updated while you are playing. It is here http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/

BOSS is a tool you definitely want. Every time you install new mods, run that. It will order the mods so as to not cause conflicts (and tell you if there are any).

If you just use Nexus Mod Manager and BOSS (as I do), here is your general flow:
Go find new mods, download and install with Nexus Mod Manager. When done, run BOSS. Good, you don't need to touch any of these again until you want to get new mods, so just play Skyrim through Steam normally.

Steam: Gundato
PSN: Gundato
If you want me on either service, I suggest PMing me here first to let me know who you are.

I made one that modified perk trees so that magic across all schools--with the possible exception of Conjuration, which I could never quite understand and so probably didn't improve much--was more powerful. This results in far less spamming, but doesn't add new spells. It also modifies casting time for Master level Destruction spells, so they're actually useful.

leave steam workshop alone, it's often quite a mess and you need the nexus mod manager to sort out the load order in case of conflicts anyway.

Steam Workshop itself is a great idea and works really well for games with more standalone mods (it would be amazing for Neverwinter Nights, for example. And it works well for ArmA missions). The problem with Skyrim (or any TES game) is that so many of the mods change the same basic features or some of the same features, so order becomes a huge issue. And I would actually call this a fault of Bethesda's and something they still haven't fixed since Morrowind.

But yeah, for Skyrim, you are probably better off just using Nexus Mod Manager, if only because many modders don't use Steam Workshop.

Steam: Gundato
PSN: Gundato
If you want me on either service, I suggest PMing me here first to let me know who you are.

As for mods... there are probably some valuable recommendations at Bethesda's forums. Try here: http://forums.bethsoft.com/forum/183-skyrim-mods/. Even if you make a new thread asking about what mods to get, you will probably get tons of good recommendations.

Steam Workshop itself is a great idea and works really well for games with more standalone mods (it would be amazing for Neverwinter Nights, for example. And it works well for ArmA missions). The problem with Skyrim (or any TES game) is that so many of the mods change the same basic features or some of the same features, so order becomes a huge issue. And I would actually call this a fault of Bethesda's and something they still haven't fixed since Morrowind.

But yeah, for Skyrim, you are probably better off just using Nexus Mod Manager, if only because many modders don't use Steam Workshop.

I think the big problem is a combination of unfocused/poorly made mods that clash with other mods, and people not using some sense and limiting their mod use. I've always been very careful about implementing mods into games, and I've never had a problem with conflicts; it's the grab-bag approach that causes problems.

Forget NMM. Invest some of your time and learn how to use Wrye Bash - immensely powerful mod manager and much more.

Please. The guy just wants to install mods, not become a coder. Wyebash & Boss are great tools for determining whats at fault when there's a mod conflict, but frankly once you start getting heavily into Tes5edit and sorting out dirty edits etc it kind of gets in the way of just playing the game.

'Where can I get some beers?'

'Don't buy beer off the shelf..learn to brew your own'

Anyway as regards mods OP.

Firstly go find your skyrim folder in steam and make a copy of it and save it somewhere else. That way if you end up completely messing up your install, you can always delete it and then replace with your vanilla copy. Saves having to redownload it all again if you need to kill it with fire/nuke the site from orbit

and get the skyrim script extender. A bunch of really useful mods require it. Follow the install instructions & when you want to play Skyrim launch the game using the NMM manager selecting launchSKSE rather from the standard launchskyrim.

Looks great..but I recommend the 5v5 patch cos after a while snow on your face just looks weird.

There's a whole bunch of fancy and funky mods out there, from better hairstyles to body morphs *cough* as well as animation updates *cough* *cough*. Quality varies greatly. One thing to bear in mind is that where two mods overlap in terms of content, the last installed will overwrite the older unless you say otherwise. So for instance if you have a say mod that changes a sitting animation, and you install a mod that alters all animations, that earlier one will be overwritten. Sometimes it's a case that you install a mod and realize it's fubared up something else. Often times the down and dirty fix is to uninstall the fubared mod, then re install it which then replaces the overwritten elements.

Subsequently what you want to give consideration to is your install sequence*. Lets say for instance that you have a bunch of world texture mods, and then also some more considered detailed texture mods (like the amidian ones I posted above). Firstly install the world textures, then after that install the detailed ones. They'll replace only the pertinent textures then.

*Probably worth keeping a record of as well.

For troubleshooting run the Boss program Nahru2 mentioned. It will detect any mod conflicts and inform you what needs to be actioned. Dirty edits can largely be ignored. Likely CTDs are the ones to watch out for.

Edit. Another thing to get your mind around is installing mods that are split into parts like 'Skyrim HD - 2K Textures'. -

this is so big it's split into particular sub sections. You install one part as normal, but when you install the second and it asks you if you want to upgrade you want to select 'no' to just install it normally. Otherwise it uninstalls the earlier install.

Ah. Also toy around with ENBs, they change the graphics drastically. Most are quite frankly shit, some look absolutely gorgeous. I had great results with Unreal Cinema Director's Cut, and then changing some values in the INIs, or the less performance taxing Bleak ENB.

Also look for Dat Grass, and Real Clouds (pseudo volumetric fog and clouds).

I strongly advise against terrain textures, all the ones i tried are super high rez, but unfortunately if you happen on a piece of land with not enough rocks or other clutter on it you will distinctly see the rectangles in which the earth's divided, not pretty.

Some mods i really liked are Interesting NPCs (ads about 150 npcs to the world) and inconsequencial npcs which also ads some npcs. This helps the world feel a bit fuller IMO. Inconsequencial npc's is kinda annoying sometimes, but most characters from it don't really matter so it's not a big problem.
Others are Frostfall if you want a good cold survival mod (coupled with cloack of skyrim and winter is coming).
And if you are looking for a different experience from vanilla, you can try Skyrim Requiem which makes many things behave differently ,like a deleveld world, better ai, skills and perks matter more (even speech), more immersive, expect to not be able to defeat everything from level 1, bandits actually pose a threat if you are ill equipped and many other stuff. Some say it's a hardcore mode, but i think it's mostly immersive than hardcore. Now falmer are not that much more powerfull than bandits, but in vanilla they were much more powerfull, for example. Hagravens are also powerfull, but they can be defeated easily because they are much more sensitive (i used breton racial and it didn't even scratch me while i killed her in one blow from a 2H). Well i wrote too much but give it a try for a bit and see if you like it, but you should read he read-me, it has a better description.
There are the mods that i enjoyed the most, other than the texture ones like water, smim etc.

The ever-excellent Gopher is in the process of making a bunch of beginner's videos for modding Skyrim where he goes through the basics of how mods work with recommendations for stuff to start out with and detailed instructions on how installation works. As a first step to get into modding it's a great place to start.

Oh and if running the game outside of Steam is something you don't want to do, don't worry because you don't have to, mods get loaded just fine anyway and NMM can be used purely for downloading and installing. If you get a mod that needs SKSE (a lot of them do) you may need to make a custom shortcut to the SKSE launcher in Steam however.

-First: There is no more "Clean Saving" in modding with Skyrim. Used to be, if a mod corrupted damaged your game, you just loaded a save without it, made a new save, and moved on. This. No. Longer. Works. You might see places where others say different; they are wrong. Bethesda themselves said - and their Creation Kit Beta Testers confirmed - that a TON of what mods change is now stored not in your mods, but in your save game.

From personal experience, I can tell you that changes to constant abilities and perks remains in your save game. Change these with a mod, and you're stuck with that mod. There are, of course, exceptions; mod authors who have scripted their mods to return you to normalcy in the event you uninstall and do it right, but those are rare. You make a change and load a game, its in that game, period.

-Two: One mod per change. Period. IF two mods edit the same thing, choose one. Then load order no longer matters, and you can avoid the bashing/merging nightmare and the crashes that often come with it. Just know your load order, what each mod does and what aspects of the game it affects. This is far simpler than trying to force incompatible mods to work together, which often does not work to begin with and can have negative side effects even when it does.

Oh and if running the game outside of Steam is something you don't want to do, don't worry because you don't have to, mods get loaded just fine anyway and NMM can be used purely for downloading and installing. If you get a mod that needs SKSE (a lot of them do) you may need to make a custom shortcut to the SKSE launcher in Steam however.

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies. I actually came across Gopher's videos last night and found them a perfectly paced and toned introduction. If anyone else is in my position I recommend those videos!

Could anyone expand on the above quote please? I know it's petty but I really want to avoid having a desktop shortcut for one game when everything else runs through Steam.

So, as for me, after watching Gopher's videos I've learnt a bit about using NMM and I've installed the various unofficial patches. I've also installed SKSE. I'm now going to try modding in SkyUi and seeing how that goes before trying anything more ambitious.

Also, I heard that Bethesda released some high quality texture packs for PC users but I've also heard that they're included by default in the legendary edition (which I have). Do I need to get the texture packs or are they already installed?

Also, I heard that Bethesda released some high quality texture packs for PC users but I've also heard that they're included by default in the legendary edition (which I have). Do I need to get the texture packs or are they already installed?

Problem with the texture packs: The use esp files to apply textures. This means that anything that changes the items to which the textures are applied, overwrites the texture packs.

To get around this, you will need to delete the esp files the texture packs use from your data folder. DO NOT delete the bsa files for the high res packs, though. You are going to need those. Once you have deleted the esp files, google on Skyrim High Res Texture Pack ini fix. Following those instructions will walk you through forcing the game to look for the bsa files through the ini, as opposed to doing so using esp files.

Using this method, other mods can change items that have high res textures, and those textures will still apply. Trust me, if you don't do this, your game is going to look all kinds of wonky if you download an overhaul, because every item they change will lose the high res texture.

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies. I actually came across Gopher's videos last night and found them a perfectly paced and toned introduction. If anyone else is in my position I recommend those videos!

Could anyone expand on the above quote please? I know it's petty but I really want to avoid having a desktop shortcut for one game when everything else runs through Steam.

So, as for me, after watching Gopher's videos I've learnt a bit about using NMM and I've installed the various unofficial patches. I've also installed SKSE. I'm now going to try modding in SkyUi and seeing how that goes before trying anything more ambitious.

Thanks again. Please keep the suggestions coming!

In your Skyrim folder, where the SKSE stuff is installed, locate the skske_launcher.exe. Make a shortcut to it on your desktop. With Steam running, use this shortcut to launch Skyrim. Doing this means you have loaded SKSE, and any mods that use it will now work. Not doing this means SKSE - and mods which use it - are not working.

In your Skyrim folder, where the SKSE stuff is installed, locate the skske_launcher.exe. Make a shortcut to it on your desktop. With Steam running, use this shortcut to launch Skyrim. Doing this means you have loaded SKSE, and any mods that use it will now work. Not doing this means SKSE - and mods which use it - are not working.

Sorry if I'm missing the point, but doesn't that mean I'm still running SKSE via a desktop shortcut? What I'd like to do is not have a desktop shortcut for SKSE but run it through the Steam launcher as with all of my existing games.

Sorry if I'm missing the point, but doesn't that mean I'm still running SKSE via a desktop shortcut? What I'd like to do is not have a desktop shortcut for SKSE but run it through the Steam launcher as with all of my existing games.

After making a shortcut to SKSE open up Steam
click the "Games" tab at the top
click "Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library..."
click "Browse" and find your SKSE_loader.exe shortcut and click it
click Add Selected Programs

This will give you a shortcut in your Steam games library that you can use to launch Skyrim with SKSE from there. You don't have to make a shortcut, you can just point Steam directly to the SKSE_loader.exe file in your Steam/steamapps/common/Skyrim folder if you prefer.

To make sure you have the official high res texture packs open up Nexus Mod Manager and look at the Plugins tab. You should have three different files called "HighResTexturePack01...03.esp" in there and the box next to them should be checked.

Also don't worry about the stuff Blackcompany said. It's good advice if you want to use certain mods but generally not something you have to worry about and at worst it will make some things look a bit odd - it won't break your game.